As a professional .net developer for over 7 years, I was pretty much expecting this the minute that I heard that Red Gate had taken over Reflector.

I can understand and sympathise with Red Gate over this descision, and I understand that they did not come upon this easily.

I call upon Red Gate to release version 6 into the open source market, perhaps on code plex, perhaps hosted elsewhere (I am willing to host a repository and a bug tracking system, and project manage, if required)

At the very least they should release a final update to v6 to disable the auto-update / auto-deletion policy.

At the moment, as soon as a new version is released the old version stops working and deletes itself. RedGate have always insisted that this was added by Lutz, and they had no intention of using it to force users to buy a commercial version of the product.

Now we find out that was a crock of bull. As soon as v7 gets released, v6 will stop working and demand $35. The claims that this will be "a perpetual license, with no time bomb or forced updates" should be given as much credence as it deserves - i.e. none. There's absolutely nothing to stop them from deciding when v8 comes out that everyone should now have to pay another $100 to keep using the product, even if they don't want to upgrade.

I can understand them charging me for the new version, but if I'm happy to keep using v6, why the f*!k should I have to pay for v7?

(Just in case you can't tell, I'm extremely p!ssed off at this decision.)

I totally agree RedGate should open source v6. I'm all for companies trying to make a profit. But when you've been something away for free and then suddenly want to charge for it that always makes people mad. From their email it sounds like RedGate just wants to charge $35 to cover their costs of maintaining Refelector, not that they want to turn it into a giant new product/money-maker. If that's the case then just open source it and it's no longer any cost on them. If they do want to turn it into a money making product then at the very least keep the v6 binaries free so you're not taking away something that people had. Then add all the new wiz-bang features to v7 and beyond that you want, charge what you want, and if people find it compelling they will be willing to pay for it.

sman wrote:...But when you've been something away for free and then suddenly want to charge for it that always makes people mad...

You should see what it's like to have children!

Are you really that out to comment against anyone who is upset with this move? I respect your right to have the opinions you do, but honestly comments like these are worthless and serve nothing more than to increase tension between folks here.

sirflimflam wrote:Are you really that out to comment against anyone who is upset with this move? I respect your right to have the opinions you do, but honestly comments like these are worthless and serve nothing more than to increase tension between folks here.

You are right in some respect. I am trying to at least balance out some of the 'negative' postings on this forum. People who have invested in Red Gates products and are currently happy with them usually won't say too much --those however, who have one negative experience will be the first to wail and moan..

However, I will refrain further from such inane comments. As for increasing tensions, I think the entire thread of negativity that followed from Red Gate's announcement caused more tension than my mere flippant comment which was entirely germane in its response.

As for increasing tensions, I think the entire thread of negativity that followed from Red Gate's announcement caused more tension than my mere flippant comment which was entirely germane in its response.

Indeed. And yet if you back up one more step, you'll find that Red Gate's announcement itself caused even more tension than the thread of negativity which responded to it.